When testing a circuit, test results may be logged in a “raw” format. Often, this raw format is 1) not accepted by the application programs that are used to analyze the test results, and 2) difficult for test engineers and others persons to comprehend.
As a result of the above difficulties that a raw data format presents, raw data is often converted to one or more other formats by, for example, rearranging, sorting, grouping, distilling and/or performing other operations on the data.
When an error is encountered while generating or storing raw data, “in process” data formatting operations are often abruptly terminated, and test records that may have been usable are often corrupted or lost. The corruption or loss of these records can lead to significant delays in testing and/or the needless repetition of work—especially in cases where data formatting operations have been “in process” for many hours, and the partial records generated thereby would have contained enough information to enable a user to avoid having to repeat their generation.